Off Limit: Claimed by My Ex-Fiancé's Stepdad novel · Chapter 20 of 32
Chapter 20: The Last Week
On Monday morning a messenger brought an envelope to the stage door.
Inside was Bettina's all-building pass, cut neatly in half.
There was a note on her cream stationery. "Since I'm so clearly not welcome. B."
The general manager brought it to my desk between two fingers.
"Well," she said. "That's one problem solved."
"No," I said. "That's one problem hiding."
The detective came by at noon and looked at the two halves of the pass for a long time.
"She knows," he said.
"She knows we suspect her. She doesn't know about the camera."
"Then she's waiting for a way in that doesn't look like her."
Ward stood in the doorway of the production office with his arms folded.
"So we wait too," he said.
So we waited.
Bettina went quiet. Nothing in the press. No pastries at the stage door. Lenore's phone went straight to voicemail.
The previews kept going, eight a week.
The girl from Baltimore got better every night. Jude took every cue and didn't speak to me unless I spoke first.
On Friday night I put a thousand dollars in twenties on the kitchen table at Bank Street.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–16 of Off Limit: Claimed by My Ex-Fiancé's Stepdad are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
← Chapter 19 · All chapters · Chapter 21 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend